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editorial
Canada must foster growth in the auto industry
The auto industry has
brought many benefits
to our local communi-
ties and to Canada as a whole.
Most obviously, there are
the jobs. The General Motors
assembly plant in Ingersoll,
CAMI, provides good quality
jobs to support local families
and local businesses.
Through negotiations with
the workers' union, Unifor, the
plant has been able to create a
large number of full-time jobs
with benefits and pensions,
improving employment pros-
pects across the region. At the
same time we have brought in
programs that allow workers
to spend more time with their
families.
These all add up to significant
benefits of a major auto plant in
Ingersoll, but there's more.
Those who have retired from
the Ingersoll plant continue to
bring benefits to the area. Hav-
ing retired with a decent pen-
sion that a good auto industry
job provides, they have been
able to retire with dignity and
continue contributing to the
local economy.
But perhaps the best thing
about having a strong auto
presence here is the promise
of jobs for future generations.
That gives our children the
chance to build lives in the
place where they were raised,
and gives the community the
security it needs to prosper.
Throughout the area, many
others benefit from the auto
industry as well. That's because
every job in an auto plant cre-
ates nine more jobs in the
broader community — suppli-
ers to the plant, contractors and
others serving the plant directly.
Jobs are also created every time
a worker spends his or her
wages, buys a home or food, or
even saves for our children's
education at the local bank.
As well, each of these work-
ers
orkers pays federal and provincial
taxes that help support such
things as health care and edu-
cation and pays local property
taxes that cover services such
as parks and road plowing.
With more than half of
CAMI's workers living in
Woodstock and London, the
benefits of having the plant in
our region spread far and
wide. The GM Ingersoll plant
supports many charities,
including the United Way to
the tune of $580,000 in 2014, a
Christmas hamper program
through donations and volun-
teers, and supports the Fusion
Youth Centre for area teens.
Following the 2008 eco-
nomic crisis, the Canadian
public and Unifor members
helped ensure General Motors
and other car companies were
able to weather the storm.
GM and the other automak-
ers
utomakers in Canada provide these
good jobs because this is a
good place for them to do busi-
ness. Canadian auto workers
provide the highest levels of
quality, efficiency, productivity
and innovation in the world.
Several recent investments
and expansions in Ontario's
auto industry are proof that
auto -sector companies continue
to see Canada as a good place to
invest, including GM in Inger-
soll, Ford in Oakville, Chrysler in
Wmdsor, Honda in Alliston, Toy-
ota in Cambridge and Wood-
stock, and Linamar in Guelph.
The benefit to all Canadians
of having the auto industry here
is shown in a study released this
week; Economic Impact of GM
Operations in Canada. The
study's lessons apply well
beyond Oshawa. It shows the
auto manufacturing provides a
big boost to Canada's gross
domestic product, gives much-
needed tax revenue to support
such services as health care and
education, and bolsters the
Canada Pension Plan.
The report found that if
GM's Oshawa plant were to
close, the federal and Ontario
governments would see a per-
manent loss of revenues and
an increase in their deficits of
more than $1 billion a year.
The report also found there
would be significant implica-
tions for CPP as a result of the
loss of contribution revenue,
which would require signifi-
cant increases in contribution
rates or cuts in benefits.
It is vital that Canada
develop an ongoing and work-
able plan to encourage growth
in the auto industry — as
other countries have already
done. This industry is too
important to Canadians, the
economy, and our commu-
nity, to have it any other way.
Mike Van Boekel is Unifor
Local 88 plant chairperson at
GM Ingersoll, CAMI assembly
plant in Ingersoll.
New reporter in town has journalism in her blood
Laura Broadley
Clinton News Record
I am from Halton Hills, more
specifically, Georgetown. I have
lived there for most of my life. And
for most of my life I would refer to
Georgetown, with a population
hovering around 40,000, as a small
town. But now I think I'll have to
reevaluate that assumption.
I have been a resident of Clinton
for just under two weeks and I've
noticed a few things. I know already
that people are deeply invested in
the well being of their community.
From the council meeting to the
High School Rodeo there is a sense
that what goes on in this town mat-
ters a lot. Everyone I have talked to
loves Clinton and is so proud to be
from here more so than anywhere
else I have ever been.
It's refreshing and challenging at
the same time. I'm going to be com-
ing to events, taking photos and
reporting on issues that directly
affect you. I don't know the town
well enough yet but I will get there. I
still get lost going from my house to
work and it's, according to Google
Maps, four minutes away.
Apart from being directionally chal-
lenged, I am a second -generation
reporter. My grandfather was a
reporter his whole adult life at differ-
ent newspapers in Glasgow, Scotland.
He started working for the paper when
he was 14 -years -old in the mailroom
and by retirement he was working as
Editor. I, unlike my grandfather,
started my working life at a bakery.
Afteryears andyears and thousands of
dollars my education has opened up
the reporter path for me. His career
prevented him from being con-
scripted. My career has prevented me
from watching too much TV Times
have changed.
My degree is in International Devel-
opment and that has afforded me the
opportunity to travel to the some of
the most remote areas in the world.
I've spent months without electricity
and running water in communities
and with people that I have seemingly
nothing in common. What have I
learned? That no matter where you're
from or what your life path there are
things we all have in common.
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P.O. Box 39, Clinton, ON NOL
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